Data-Poor Situations

Let’s break this down. “Data-poor situations” are times when we just don’t know enough to be sure. We have to make reasonable guesses, fill in gaps, and make predictions — despite uncertainty. There’s no one correct answer (although there are definitely incorrect answers).

This reflects adult life pretty well! We rarely have enough information to make the one right choice. Life is data-poor!

So when we ask a divergent question, we need enough uncertainty to force students to fill those gaps in as best they can. This naturally leads to different students making different choices and going in different directions (the definition of divergence).

Divergent Question Starters

How do we create divergent questions? Here’s a sample from Gallagher and Ascher:

What if Spain had not been defeated when the Armada was destroyed in 1588, and Spain went on to conquer England. What would the world be like today?

This situation is “data-poor” since it didn’t actually happen! Students cannot look it up in their book. They can absolutely answer it, but it’s going to take some nice, juicy thinking.

Contrast this question with the more common “Why was the Spanish Armada defeated?” — a mere memory question (even though it might take a whole essay to answer fully).